Public patients to get private hospital-based surgery in new plan being investigated by Newman Government

SURGEONS have welcomed a Queensland Government proposal to guarantee elective surgery within set time frames, but say some patients may still wait years to be operated on because of long waits to consult a specialist.

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg will fly to Europe this week to investigate the Scandinavian model where patients are operated on in private hospitals for free if the public system cannot deliver within medically recommended time limits.

"This is about making sure that if we have clinically assessed a patient as requiring their surgery within a particular period of time, then they should expect to get it. Otherwise, why do we have clinical guidelines?'' Mr Springborg said.

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Queensland chairman Bernie Whitfield said the plan would still leave long public hospital outpatient lists: the waiting list for the waiting list.

Patients need to be assessed by a specialist before placement on the elective surgery waiting list, if surgery is needed.

Mr Springborg's surgical guarantee, if adopted, would only apply once a patient had consulted a specialist and been placed on the elective surgery waiting list.

"Anything which improves access to surgery is good,'' Dr Whitfield said. "It's a good overall idea. But there's a big elephant in the room ... The queue to get into outpatients is massive, depending on the specialty.''

Mr Springborg said the Government had allocated $14 million since coming to power for an additional 42,000 outpatient appointments, some of which had been outsourced to the private sector.

"We've started to see a downward trend with regard to the outpatient waiting list,'' he said. "It's still large but we're starting to see some improvements.''

Queensland Nurses Union secretary Beth Mohle said she was disappointed the Government had not consulted with key stakeholders over its proposal to guarantee elective surgery within set time frames.

"We want to be part of the story to improve our health system but we are really being denied a meaningful voice,'' Ms Mohle said.

Queensland would be the first Australian state to adopt such a surgery guarantee, exposing the significant improvements to the state's health system which only a few years ago kept patient wait times top secret.

However, the plan is likely to spark criticism from unions and some health advocates that the Newman Government is seeking to privatise the state's free hospitals by stealth.

It could mean all category 1 patients, which includes heart attack victims requiring stents or coronary artery bypass surgery, receive their operations within the nationally recognised 30-day time limit.

Category 2 patients, whose conditions cause them significant pain, would be seen within 90 days while those deemed category 3, whose needs vary from reconstructive surgery to tattoo and piercing removals, would be seen within 12 months.

Mr Springborg said he was confident the surgery guarantee could be introduced to give patients peace of mind that their operation would occur on time, if they opted for a private procedure.

"It's all about empowering patients to choose,'' he said, "and it's all about delivering on the patient's expectation of surgery on time, at no cost to them personally, and at a properly accredited hospital."

A similar scheme, known as Surgery Connect, already operates in Queensland although this is used mostly to purchase particular procedures when there is a backlog of patients left waiting longer than recommended.

The Newman Government used the private system last year to slash the dental wait list by offering vouchers to patients who had waited longer than two years.

Mr Springborg said if the system was adopted, priority would be given to long-wait patients although he ruled out allowing the use of interstate hospital facilities. The investigation into offering a surgery guarantee comes as the number of patients waiting longer than recommended fell from 6485 in March 2012 to 3999 by last year's end.

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